No savings so far with Ukiah Fire Department changes

Dropping its ambulance services and joining forces with the Ukiah Valley Fire District may actually end up costing the City of Ukiah a bit more at the end of this budget year, City Manager Jane Chambers told the Ukiah City Council Wednesday.

"We estimate spending $24,000 more than we anticipated," Chambers said, explaining that since the Ukiah Fire Department will stop responding to incidents with staff on ambulances as of March 1, the city will no longer receive the revenue that service generated.

"That will be a loss of revenue of about $187,245," she said, cautioning that the numbers she was presenting as "the net impact of the number of changes we made" merging services between the UFD and the UVFD were "estimates" only.

Though there is an expected loss of revenue, Chambers said the city expected to receive $340,000 from the state of California for three years' worth of ambulance reimbursements.

"We do think they owe us that amount," she said.

"The reimbursements will disappear, and the revenues will disappear, but which expenditures will disappear?" asked Vice-Mayor Phil Baldwin.

Because of injuries, overtime costs and paying for some part-time staff, Chambers said "net expenditures increased by $128,000," and for Fiscal Year 2012/13, "we estimate $24,000 more than we anticipated.

"We basically evened out," she continued. "We basically have been able to absorb the revenue loss from the ambulance revenue. Going forward, we won't have the ambulance revenue, but we will have fewer personnel."

Overall, Chambers described the estimates as "kind of a good news story as well, with a big caveat being whether we get a check from the state."

Justine Frederiksen can be reached at udjjf@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @JustFrederiksen or at 468-3521.